Lehigh Valley childhood cancer assistance organization launches new $3.4 million campaign with help of local students

A Bushkill Township-based childhood cancer assistance organization today announced a new $3.4 million campaign to raise money to help Lehigh Valley children battling cancer.

Angel 34 is partnering with student-athletes from 13 local high schools to raise the money. The students will be charged both with helping to raise the money and deciding how it should be spent.

Angel 34 founders Doug and Linda Sheriff decided to call on student-athletes because their daughter Nicole, who died of Ewing's sarcoma in 2004 at age 15, played field hockey, basketball and softball in the Northampton Area School District, where the family lived at the time.

The money will benefit patients and families at Lehigh Valley Health Network's pediatric cancer center, which is the only such center in the Lehigh Valley. While insurance pays for most cancer treatment, it doesn't generally pay for things such as family counseling and meeting with social workers, said Dr. J. Nathan Hagstrom, the network's chair of pediatrics.

"We're only reimbursed for the basic medical care and patients and families really need a lot more support than that," he said.

Nicole Sheriff would regularly remark how sad it was that some of her fellow patients didn't always have their families with them when being treated, Doug Sheriff said. Linda Sheriff was very fortunate to receive a full year off through time donated from her co-workers at PPL Electric Utilities to be with Nicole but many other families don't have that luxury, Doug Sheriff said.

"That's our driving force every day: to help these families," he said.

Angel 34 has been working with Lehigh Valley Health Network for 10 years but the new campaign is its biggest effort yet, Hagstrom said.

Some of the funding may go to help construct the network's new pediatric cancer center at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township. The center, which has been in operation 14 years, is currently housed at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem, where today's announcement took place. It's being moved to Salisbury Township for better coordination with other medical services, Hagstrom said.

"It's important for people to know there's a clinic here that takes care of 98 percent of our children in the Valley and beyond," Sheriff said. "It's so important to stress the ability of our families to be able to remain in the Valley."

None of the students participating in the effort have cancer but they all know students at their school who do, Doug Sheriff said.

Marissa Aranda, a student at Pen Argyl Area High School, one of the participating schools, has both friends and family who have had cancer. She's also a volunteer with the American Cancer Society.

"It's kind of where I need to be," the Wind Gap resident said.

The students are looking at fundraising events including mini thons and sports tournaments, Pen Argyl student Dana Evans said.

Angel 34 hopes the students can raise $200,000 a year for the effort, Doug Sheriff said. They'll also be helped by local Olympic gold medal cyclist Marty Nothstein and WFMZ-TV sports anchor Troy Hein, the effort's honorary chairs.

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ATHLETES AND ANGELS

The students leading the fundraising effort effort will be known as "Athletes on the Field — Angels in the Community." The students hail from Moravian Academy and Emmaus, Northampton Area, Northern Lehigh, Northwestern Lehigh, Notre Dame, Palisades, Palmerton Area, Pen Argyl Area, Pleasant Valley, Salisbury, Saucon Valley and Wilson Area high Schools.